Lightning still fighting for home ice with OT win over Red Wings

Eduardo A. Encina, Tampa Bay Times on Apr 13, 2026

Published in Hockey

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TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Lightning pushed toward gaining home ice in the first round, and still have an outside chance of winning the Atlantic Division, following their 4-3 overtime victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night at Benchmark International Arena.

Nikita Kucherov scored the game-winner 27 seconds into the 3-on-3 overtime session, taking a pass from Brayden Point on a 2-on-1 breakaway. The Lightning battled back from another early deficit, then couldn’t protect a two-goal lead going into the third period.

With one game remaining for each team, the Lightning (50-25-6) and Montreal Canadiens (48-23-10) both have 106 points, but Tampa Bay owns the first tiebreaker by having more regulation wins going into Montreal’s game Tuesday at Philadelphia. (Buffalo, which entered the day with 106 points, had a later start time Monday night versus the Chicago Blackhawks.)

The Lightning took control late in the second period, breaking open a tied game with two goals in a span of two minutes, 50 seconds.

But the Red Wings evened the score with 4:14 left in regulation after Detroit right wing Patrick Kane picked Lightning defenseman Emil Lilleberg’s pocket at the Red Wings blue line, setting up a 2-on-1 the other way that Alex DeBrincat finished.

Erik Cernak scored his third goal of the season to give the Lightning a 2-1 lead with 4:07 remaining in the second. Defenseman Ryan McDonagh beat Detroit counterpart Ben Chiarot for possession of a loose puck to the right of the crease and patiently waited for two Red Wings to converge on him before tapping a deliberate pass between two sticks to a wide-open Cernak along the left post.

Jake Guentzel then scored his 38th goal of the season with 1:57 to play in the second. Inside the left-side blue line, Guentzel found Kucherov alone on rushing into the zone on the right wing. Kucherov followed up his own missed shot, chasing it down behind the next and finding Guentzel, who beat Cam Talbot in the far corner from above the left hash.

The Lightning fell behind on David Perron’s goal at the 5:31 mark of the opening period, and the air came out of Benchmark International Arena when Simon Edvinsson found the back of the net with 4:30 left in the first. The goal, however, was taken off the scoreboard when a successful coach’s challenge found that there was goaltender interference on the play.

Then, Lightning center Conor Geekie, the highly-touted top prospect who spent most of this season at AHL Syracuse, scored his first NHL goal on a breakaway to tie it with 2:55 in the first period.

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